Tripping Over You
by FirewithFire
Summary: After a summer away from each other Karma and Amy have grown apart. Shane decides the best way to get them to resolve their issues is a seven hour road trip. Karma and Amy agree their only topic of conversation will be directions, but soon tensions start to arise and when an accident (literally) sends them downhill, they are forced to face their true feelings towards each other.
1. We Used To Be Friends

"I'm sorry I left without telling you about it okay? I really am, but I'm not gonna apologize for leaving!" Amy yelled out, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. Both Karma and Amy knew it was a bad idea to go along with Shane's plan. Well, perhaps 'going along' wasn't the right way to describe it. Shane basically tricked them into riding to this place in the woods together. He talked about an epic roadtrip, campfires, mountains and some bullcrap about becoming one with nature. A perfect getaway from their problems, he said. What he didn't mention was that Karma and Amy were both gonna be there. When Karma arrived at Shane's house he said there was no more room in the car. All seats were taken. Liam was in the front seat, smiling at Karma apologetically. In the back seat sat Lauren, god knows why. But knowing Lauren, she probably had her reasons. And of course Lauren wouldn't go anywhere without at least one of her minions, so that made four people altogether. Shane promised Karma would have a ride, and she shouldn't have been surprised that it was Amy who appeared in another car, thinking _she_ was gonna drive them all there. No, instead of spending time apart, Karma and Amy would be stuck together. They had to give it to him, Shane had a way of talking people into things. He could be very convincing, and on top of that, he said the cabin they rented was already paid for. Once they reluctantly agreed, Shane speeded away, very 'subtly' leaving them alone together. In the end Karma and Amy decided that their only topic of conversation should be about directions. After a few hours of driving however, and their destination still nowhere to be found, tensions arose and the one thing they didn't want to talk about became an inevitable subject.

"I cried myself to sleep for two weeks! Do you even realize –"

"No!" Amy said, the tone of her voice slightly catching Karma off guard. "You're not gonna make me feel guilty about this! All I wanted to do was save our friendship, I just needed this so I could –"

"What about what _I_ needed?" Karma interrupted. "I needed you! This year my parents lost everything, I had to move into a juice truck and I got betrayed by my _best friend_ and my _boyfriend_ , and when we finally fixed things between us you decided to bail on me!"

Amy laughs cynically at Karma's rant, shaking her head in disbelief. "God Karma. How many times are you gonna keep throwing that in my face? I'm sorry I slept with Liam, I know I crossed a line, but I can't undo the past! And you know what, I thought we were moving forward but then _you_ kissed me in the pool! Remember? Or did you forget about that again?" Amy blamed as Karma looked at her slightly pained. "Karma, let's be honest, it's _always_ been about what you needed. And that night, you needed somebody to make you feel better, and I was there for you. But every time I try to focus on what _I_ need, you're the one standing in the way!"

Though Karma knew Amy was probably making some valid points, the latter got to her. She couldn't believe they went from being best friends to Amy thinking of her as just some kind of obstacle blocking her way. "Standing in the way? Really? I don't know if you realized, but this hasn't been easy on me either! The one thing I _always_ knew for sure was that no matter what happened, my best friend would have my back. But ever since… since this whole mess between us, there's this distance. You're shutting me out and I feel like I'm losing my best friend!"

"Well I'm sorry if my falling in love with you was an inconvenience for you," Amy said bitterly. "You know I didn't want this to happen, but it did! And _you_ started this, you… and this… stupid plan of yours! You pretended to be in a relationship with me, and even after all that we've been through, after I told you that I was in love you… you never gave me the time or space to get over you. Not to mention you kept sending me these extremely confusing signals! You knew how I felt about you and you _still_ kissed me and then told me it meant nothing! You don't think that messes with my head?"

For a moment it remained quiet. While Amy took a deep breath to compose herself before focusing on the road again, Karma struggled to find the right words to say. Truth be told, it was all very confusing for Karma as well. She was so sure that these signals Amy referred to were all some kind of unfortunate coincidence or part of another planned scheme. They didn't really mean anything, did they? The kiss they shared in the pool however… this was the one that didn't make sense. Or maybe it made the most sense? Karma couldn't quite explain it. Sure, there was a ton of alcohol in her blood, but there was something about that kiss that threw her off her game. Perhaps it did mean something, Karma realized. But how could she have told Amy it meant something, when she couldn't tell her _what_ it meant?

"You're right. I shouldn't have kissed you," Karma finally spoke. She looked at Amy as the dashboard light lit up just enough to reveal the hurt expression on her best friend's face. Even though the damage had already been done, Karma knew she couldn't put Amy through even more of this unless she was absolutely sure what her feelings meant. But right now her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts and feelings, and it was so easy to lose sight of what really mattered. "I just wish things could go back to the way they were," Karma admitted with a defeated sigh.

"Me too Karma. But that's just not possible," Amy said while keeping her eyes on the road. "Things changed, and we're just not… us anymore."

Karma didn't look at Amy this time. Instead, she looked out through the window into the dark, into nothingness. It somehow seemed to match how she was feeling right now.

 _Empty_.

"What happened to us Amy?" she wondered out loud.

At this point, Karma realized Amy was holding back tears. She watched Amy force a smile before finally answering. "You know exactly what happened."

Karma wished there was something she could say. Something that would somehow make it all better. But there was no magic word, no way to make these past few months disappear. As both girls had nothing left to say, it went quiet.

"You need to take a turn to the left soon," Karma said after a while. There was no emotion left in her voice.

"Turn left where? I can barely see anything," Amy said as she squinted her eyes, trying to see through the trees. "Are you _sure_ we're going the right way… It just doesn't seem right."

"That's what it says on the map," Karma said, a little agitated at Amy's lack of trust in her. "Just keep going."

"Fine," Amy replied briefly.

"Wait, what's that?" Karma asked then, pointing at a strange figure on the side of the road ahead of them. It was barely visible through the darkness, but at their speed, they wouldn't have to wait long to find out. They quickly approached what seemed to be a fourlegged creature, and before they knew it, the animal was standing in the middle of the road. "Oh my god it's a deer, Amy look out!" Karma gasped out in panic, but it was too late.

Amy tugged at the wheel, trying to avoid the deer, who didn't seem to care at all bout the oncoming car and simply froze in front of them. With a pinch of luck they successfully avoided the deer, but the sudden turn sent the car spinning out of control. With screeching tires the car tolled off the road. This is where things went quite literally downhill, down and further down… until one tree and a crash brought everything to a halt.

And just like that, everything went quiet again.


	2. Together

Karma awoke to the sound of a twig breaking, followed by the ruffle of some leaves. The first thing she noticed was how sore her body felt. She couldn't tell what hurt the most, all she knew for sure was that she was pretty banged up. She groaned weakly before slowly opening her eyes, but there was barely any light to adjust to. Once her vision had returned to her, she tried to remember where she was. She took in her surroundings and searched for clues.

 _Broken glass._

As soon as Karma saw the broken window, the sound of shattering glass accompanied little fractions of her memory.

 _Silhouettes._

Black shadows in the shape of a thousand trees covered the area around her. Shane's words entered her mind in vague flashes. Something about woods. Something about mountains. Then she looked down but quickly hissed out in pain, realizing the movement hurt her neck. While bringing her hand up to rub the back of her neck she spotted the map on the floor, where a destination had been circled with a red marker.

 _Road trip._

Slowly it started to come back to her. They were going on a trip. It was Shane's idea. She remembered arriving at Shane's house, but frowned as she realized he wasn't here. Wait. She suddenly pictured Shane's mischievous smile when… when Amy arrived. Amy was there. They were together in the car. They fought. The deer. They crashed.

 _Amy._

Alarmbells started going off in Karma's head as she quickly regained full memory of what had happened. She was wide awake now, and she was terrified to look to the side where Amy had been driving, where a tree… had crushed their car.

"Oh my god, Amy!" Karma called out, horrified, when she saw her friend sitting motionless in the seat next to her. Though the car had died, the dashboard light remained on, revealing a trail of blood trickling down the side of Amy's head at an alarming rate, colouring strands of her blonde hair crimson red.

"No, no, no, this can't be happening, this is _not_ happening." Karma's heart beat wildly in her chest as she immediately unbuckled her seatbelt to get closer to Amy. She didn't know where to start, whether she should stop the bleeding first or try to wake her up instead. So she tried both.

"Amy!" Karma yelled out again, frantically looking for something to cover Amy's headwound with. She tried to put her hand against Amy's head, but it wasn't enough to stop the blood from seeping out through her fingers. "Fuck," Karma said with fear and frustration. It was hard, if not impossible, to think clearly. The only thought running through Karma's mind was that she couldn't lose Amy.

"Amy, can you hear me?!" Karma tried again as she finally decided to rip off a part of her own shirt. With one swift movement she shredded the piece of fabric off before folding it into a cloth, pressing it against the wound.

"Amy please, come on wake up, don't leave me alone out here," Karma continued while she tried to stay as calm as possible. She put her free hand on Amy's cheek, bringing her face closer to her own. "Come on Amy, just wake up," Karma pleaded. She rubbed Amy's cheek with her thumb, trying to get her to respond.

Still, nothing.

She then moved her hand down to Amy's arm, resisting the urge to just shake her friend back into consciousness, realizing that in these circumstances that probably wouldn't be a good idea.

"Ow…" a familiar voice suddenly sounded, followed by a few more painfully sounding groans.

"Oh my god, Amy you're awake!" Karma let out a breath in relief, but remained alert.

Amy scrunched her eyes as a frown creased her forehead. "What… What happened…"

"Don't move, you're hurt," Karma warned worriedly. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been beat up by a grizzly bear…"

Finally Amy managed to open her eyes, and Karma could honestly say she had never been this happy to see those beautiful green eyes again.

"Where are we..?" Amy asked, confused. She tried to sit up so she could look around, but Karma wouldn't let her.

"Careful, in case you haven't noticed, you're bleeding," Karma said with a serious tone in her voice. She firmly put her hand down on Amy's chest to keep her from possibly doing more damage.

Amy then took in the sight of Karma holding the cloth against her head. "Oh… I guess I am…" Amy said, still dazed.

"We were in a car accident. Remember the deer?" Karma clarified.

For a moment Karma could see Amy visibly thinking hard about what had happened. She could tell exactly when it all clicked for Amy, considering she went through the same thing not too long ago.

"Deer…" Amy mumbled weakly. Despite the poor circumstances, Karma couldn't help but somehow find the look on Amy's face adorable.

"That fucking… deer," Amy repeated, this time with a little more strength in her voice.

Karma managed a small smile, a subtle laugh. If they had known becoming 'one with nature' could be such a painful experience, they never would have come here.

"Wait," Amy said. "Karma are you – are you okay?"

Karma saw that Amy's dazed expression quickly turned more serious.

"I – I didn't… This is my fault. Are you okay?" Amy repeated, her eyes staring into Karma's, filling with guilt.

"I'm fine, just a little banged up," Karma tried to soothe. "And this is isn't your fault. I mean seriously, that deer is a lucky bastard, he came out of nowhere and you were nice enough to avoid him."

"But I risked our lives," Amy disagreed. "I shouldn't have gone that fast in the first place. I – I didn't –" Amy started to panic.

"Amy it was dead silent, you couldn't have known. It's not your fault now would you just take it easy?" Karma tried as she put a little more pressure against Amy's wound.

"Not until I know you're okay," Amy said as she tried to sit up again, checking Karma for visible damage.

"I'm fine, I mean as fine as someone who just got into a car crash can be," Karma responded. "Don't worry about me, really."

Amy sighed, hardly satisfied with Karma's answer. It was ironic to see Amy worry about her that much when it was Karma who was freaking out over Amy moments before. Well, Karma still wasn't sure if Amy was going to be okay, but for now she needed to stay positive.

"Like I could ever stop worrying about you," Amy said after a moment of silence.

Karma shot Amy a small smile. "I guess that goes both ways."

That moment they exchanged a look, that somehow made Karma feel like things could possibly still work out for them. Amy still cared. They both did. If it wasn't obvious before, it sure was now. Even in the midst of this messed up situation, hurt and lost in the woods, just maybe… _maybe_ things would turn out okay.

"What happened to your shirt?" Amy suddenly asked, staring at the missing piece at the lower left bottom of Karma's shirt.

"Needed something to stop the bleeding," Karma admitted.

Amy brought her hand up to the cloth again as she realized what Karma did, but found Karma's hand instead. The sudden contact sent a strange rush through Karma's body. She felt her cheeks growing warmer and it was confusing to say the least. Amy opened her mouth to say something, but in the end decided to say nothing. This was crazy, Karma thought. They shared years of sleepovers, innocent cuddling and friendly hugs. How come this one touch suddenly got her body to shiver?

"Uhm… thanks," Amy said softly, breaking the silence.

Karma quickly shook herself out of her thoughts, deciding this wasn't the time to start… _questioning_ things, other than finding a way to get back home safely.

"What do we do now?" Amy said as they both looked around, realizing there was no way they could reach the road again down from where they were.

"Phone?" Karma suggested, though they knew chances of finding a signal out there were slim.

Amy nodded as Karma handed over the cloth to Amy so she could look for her own phone. "You okay?" Karma checked with Amy, locking eyes with her before starting her search.

"I – I'll be fine," Amy said with a more or less reassuring smile. Karma didn't quite trust it, and told herself she would get back to that later. She started to use her hands to feel under her seat.

"Careful Karma, the glass," Amy pointed out.

The shattered glass was spread out all over the floor, and upon seeing the huge dent the tree made, Karma wondered how they even survived at all. Finally she felt the strap of her bag. She pulled it out from underneath and dug out her iPhone.

"No signal," Karma declared, hoping Amy would somehow have more luck.

"Shit," Karma heard Amy say. Guess she wasn't lucky either.

"My phone, it's dead. I think it's broken," Amy stated before slumping back down in her seat. "Gah this is like a freakin' horror movie."

"I _really_ hope it's not," Karma replied, shivering at the thought of them being in a horror movie. "So now what? Should we call out for help?"

Amy shook her head. "It's the middle of the night, and we haven't seen or heard anybody in hours. The only one who would hear us is probably that stupid deer."

Karma sighed, and tried to think of answers as Amy did the same. It quickly became clear there weren't a whole lot of options.

"I think we have to get out of the car, see if there's any way to find the road again. Or _something_ that comes close to civilization," Amy finally suggested.

"Are you serious?" The idea sounded absurd to Karma. It was so dark outside, they would probably risk getting even more lost than they already were. "Have you _looked_ outside?"

"Well what's _your_ great idea?" Amy replied. "We can't stay here and do nothing."

"But –"

"Look I don't wanna go out there either, but I don't see us sitting around here helping," Amy reasoned.

Karma frowned, she still couldn't believe _this_ was Amy's great suggestion. "Where would we go? And can you even walk?"

"Let's try it out," Amy said with a stubborn look in her eyes. "Open the door," Amy ordered, as she could obviously not get out from the driver's side.

"You're serious." Karma said, slightly annoyed at Amy's carelessness.

"Come on Karma, unless you can think of something better?" Amy insisted.

With a sigh, Karma reluctantly tried to open the door. It needed quite a push, but the door finally cracked open. Karma was the first who got out. Her body needed some time to adjust to standing up again, but though her body was hurting all over, she managed to walk. She counted her limbs one last time before deciding that, considering the circumstances, she was okay.

Then it was Amy's turn. She had tied the cloth around her head so she would have both her hands free to move around. She took a deep breath before pushing herself up, but failing her first attempt. Karma caught Amy flinching and was immediately by her side. "What's wrong? Are you okay? I knew this was a bad –"

"I'm fine Karma," Amy interrupted, but noticably annoyed. "Just… give me a minute."

"Amy…" Karma and Amy exchanged a look. With the moonlight lighting up her face just right in this angle, Karma noticed that Amy looked really tired. Well, it wasn't surprising. They both were, who could blame them after the day they've had?

"At least let me help you," Karma finally offered.

Amy seemed to soften up a little again. She nodded and allowed Karma to take her hand. Together they managed to get Amy out of the car, and much to Karma's surprise, Amy was walking.

"See?" Amy said with content. "I can walk."

"Fine." Karma rolled her eyes but smiled in slight relief. "So now where do we go? We don't even have any light."

"Do not fear," Amy spoke graciously, earning her a chuckle from Karma, "for my mom always has a flashlight in the back of the car."

Amy walked over to the back and fidgeted with the lock until the door would open. Then with the flick of a switch, Amy turned on the flashlight. She aimed it at her own face as she shot Karma a comforting smile.

Though Amy couldn't see it, Karma smiled back at her. Whenever anything happened, Amy was still the only one who could make her feel at ease. And that's when Karma realized, if she could choose anyone on this planet to be stuck with…

It would be Amy.


End file.
